Conventionally, a banknote handling machine (paper sheet handling machine), which can sort the banknotes deposited from a customer, for each denomination thereof, and then store them therein, has been known. In such a banknote handling machine, the banknotes, when deposited in the machine, are first placed in a hopper by an operator. Then, the banknotes placed in the hopper are taken in the banknote handling machine, one by one, by a banknote take-in apparatus.
As the banknote handling machine as described above, one machine disclosed in JP9-190562A has been known. This banknote handling machine disclosed in JP9-190562 comprises an upper unit and a lower unit. The upper unit and lower unit are respectively composed of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing. The upper unit has the banknote take-in apparatus adapted for taking therein the banknotes stored in the hopper, one by one, an upper transport mechanism adapted for transporting the banknotes taken in by the banknote take-in apparatus, one by one, and a recognition unit provided in the middle of the upper transport mechanism and adapted for recognizing each banknote transported by the upper transport mechanism. The lower unit has a lower transport mechanism provided to receive the banknotes transferred from the upper transport mechanism of the upper unit, one by one, and then further transport such received banknotes, and a plurality of stacking units, each for stacking therein the paper sheets transported by the lower transport mechanism and sorted based on results obtained by the recognition unit.
In this banknote handling machine, when some foreign material, such as dirt, dust or the like, is attached to each banknote to be taken in by the banknote take-in apparatus, there is a risk that such foreign material may be attached to the transport mechanism or recognition unit in the banknote handling machine, when a series of processes are provided to each banknote by the banknote handling machine. Especially, in an outlet portion of the banknote take-in apparatus and recognition unit, where a transport path for each banknote is relatively narrowed, the foreign material is likely to be detached from the banknote, thus it may tend to be attached to the outlet portion of the banknote take-in apparatus and recognition unit. With such attachment of the foreign material, misrecognition for each banknote may occur in the recognition unit, and a failure or error during a transport operation may be caused by a jam or the like in the transport mechanism.
In the above banknote handling machine disclosed in JP9-190562A, the recognition unit provided in the upper unit is composed of a pair of rollers (more specifically, a base roller and a detection roller), each adapted for detecting the thickness of the banknotes. In this case, either one of the rollers has a spiral groove formed in an outer-circumferential face thereof, in order to scrape off the foreign material attached to the roller.
In addition, in a banknote authentication apparatus as described in JP10-283520A, a scraper is provided to be in contact with either one of the pair of rollers for detecting the thickness of the banknotes. Namely, this scraper can serve to scrape off the foreign material attached to the outer-circumferential face of the roller, in order to detect the thickness of the banknotes more accurately.
However, in such conventional banknote handling machines as described above, since the upper unit is composed of the casing having a bottom plate, the foreign material detached from each roller of the recognition unit will be accumulated on the bottom plate of the upper unit. Namely, even though the foreign material that would otherwise remain in the outlet portion of the banknote take-in apparatus and recognition unit of the upper unit, where the transport path for each banknote is relatively narrowed, can be positively detached from that portion or unit in the conventional banknote handling machine, such a detached foreign material will be fallen down and eventually accumulated on the bottom plate of the upper unit. Thus, such accumulated foreign material may cause various problems.